Catherine

Wow! I've tried to call several times for a trust issue; letter response call number X and use ID number Y. No one has picked up, in an hour and a half, any time I've tried. Yesterday I got disconnected after 47 minutes; my shortest call yet. Very, very frustrating.

Not always! I've had a few over the years where no letter ever followed to explain discrepancies. The states tend to be worse about that than the IRS, but the IRS does it too. I'd call. Next week.

The forms may also insidiously end up being issued years afterwards, when the taxpayer is no longer insolvent. Then it can become taxable income.

Here you go, Gail. https://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2024/04/13

Maybe institute a per-call fee, so you try hard yourself before calling. Even a small fee of $1 to $5 per call would make a lot of folks look things up themselves first.

I definitely have a few in mind to fire. However, I'll wait until I've recovered a bit before making final determinations. Drake tracks time on a return (so I leave the client's return open when I'm doing anything with their documents) and one of the things I'll do is go back through 'em all and compare what I charged with what my time-billing fee would have been. Anyone whose time-bill is substantially more than the per-form charge is high on the list of candidate for firing.

On occasion I'll send an extension form with recommendations, or (for those internet-savvy) a link to Direct Pay. Up to them, though. I'm not their mommy and they're supposed to be grownups!

I cover these two in the upcoming webinar. Don't know about ATX any longer 'cuz I bailed in the 2012 filing season. I always learn more from case studies than the ivory-tower practice cases where all the numbers line up perfectly.

This one is online and 2 CPEs. No plans at the moment to go somewhere live. Got a group that wants to invite me?

I also note is is very limited in time, and only for the day before the due date. They are also asking people only to call in with time-sensitive issues rather than general questions.

Yes, a very heartfelt thank you to Eric, the moderators, and every colleague who reads and posts here. Without you, I would be bereft of what small dregs of sanity remain to me.

When there is NO information on which to base anything - no papers at all, a client who varies year to year from owing v getting refunds - the worst that happens, that I see, is that the IRS invalidates the extension later. But they may not. If there ends up being a refund, you have extended the statute for collecting that refund an additional 6 months. I have a couple of clients who show up every 3 years, with 3 years' worth of documents in hand. I put in extensions, every year, just in case. They know the risks (as they get told, by yours truly) and if they don't pay anything it's all on them. I figure it's worth a try, for minimal effort on my part.

It was supposed to be!

Next lesson: we cannot allow ourselves to care more than the client does. Care about the quality of our work, yes! Care more than they about penalties for being late? Nope. And I at least have to re-learn this every couple of years.

You'd get to see the (totally staged) photo of me hiding under my desk with a bottle of whiskey, when the full extent of the debacle becomes known...

Somewhere in the stack-o-stuff there is a breakdown of the per-condo improvement amounts, that I will dig out after 4/15. Thanks, guys!

That is against the unwritten rules. No one may ask for tax advice before doing something. The more idiotic the step, the more strictly this is enforced.

Client has a condo that levied a "special assessment" against all owners to deal with capital improvements. But the paperwork says it's to pay the loan. My take is that the improvements are additional basis in the unit, and since the loan is not in the taxpayer's name it is therefore not deductible mortgage interest. Thoughts? As an aside, this client is already greatly limited by mortgage interest deduction limits in what can be deducted.

Double and triple check that you have the EIN listed correctly. If it still demands a 1041, I'd say paper-file the thing and be done with it. Even include the e-file rejection 'reason' if you wish.

Anyone looking for a couple of CPE hours in late April, I'm presenting online. https://www.bigmarker.com/tax-practice-pro-inc1/When-1040s-Go-Wrong-Navigating-a-Tax-Train-Wreck @Lion EA saw the first presentation of this, live, last September.

All you can do is file a zero-information federal extension. Gives him 6 months on the SOL to claim any refund, if he finally gets his docs to you next year. We are not their mommies and can't make them do anything. Nor can we allow ourselves to care more about their own taxes than they do. If he has late penalties and interest it's not your fault and there's nothing you could have done to fix it.

Many clients use this. My one warning is that partial payments do NOT work. They take the full tax due. If someone wants to make a partial payment, have them go to Direct Pay or the state site - or use checks and coupons.

I've had a policy for years - and my annual tax letter states in bold - that any return not ready for signatures and e-filing as of April 1st *will* be put on extension. My cutoff is March 15th, but the poison pill in it is that I have to have all the documents and information in-house by that date. People rush to get me docs on March 14th & 15th - but it's never, ever, complete, so they have not made the cutoff. Manage your clients, or they'll manage you into premature gray hair and high blood pressure.

Drake has an entire separate signature page for bank information. Very glad for that; it has caught some major client errors (not all) beforehand.